Can You Renovate Your House on a Low Budget?

Most people see renovations as an incredibly expensive project. It involves buying a lot of materials, renting tools and potentially hiring contractors. It also takes a lot of time which inevitably leads to costing money. As such, it’s hard to see a home renovation ever becoming a budget project, but that doesn’t mean you can’t at least be economical about it.

There are actually a number of different ways to reduce the costs of your renovation, so in this article, we’re going to be offering some helpful tips that will cut the costs on your next project.

Calculate everything so you don’t spend too little or too much

One of the biggest tips to help you save money is to always calculate things as close as possible. For instance, you should be using a composite decking calculator to figure out how many metres of decking you’ll need to cover a project area. Similarly, you’ll want to measure out your floor to precise measurements before you purchase flooring and clear perspex if you choose to avoid glass, so you don’t buy too little or too much.

Even though precise measurements are important, you also need to consider buying around 10% more than what you’ve calculated. This is to account for any potential mistakes that you make and in case you’ve made any slight errors in your calculations. As a general rule of thumb, you should always measure at least twice before you buy anything. While it’s a little more expensive to have extras, it’ll save you a lot of hassle in the future if you do end up making a mistake.

Break the renovation plan into smaller digestible projects

You should always be looking to simplify your renovation projects so that they are easier to manage, especially if you’re doing the project on your own. For instance, if you’re looking to replace your floors, then you should break it into several different projects. For starters, you’ll want to remove all of the furniture in the rooms you’re renovating. The next project will be to strip the current flooring out. Then you’ll want to measure and cut your new flooring before finally installing it.

By dissecting your projects to smaller chunks, it’ll help you optimise the amount of time you spend on the renovation and gives you a clearer picture of any tools or materials that you need to buy. When you try to tackle the entire project at once in your planning, it’ll complicate things and you could accidentally end up spending more money.

If you’re hiring a contractor, do your research

If you want to build yourself a dream house then the best option is to look for a contractor. While the DIY option is usually more cost-effective, hiring a contractor means you can sit back, relax and let someone else do the work for you. For some people, this can save a lot of hassle and stress. In addition, you might find that it’s more cost-effective because doing your own renovations might require buying expensive equipment and the cost of materials isn’t exactly cheap either.

If you’re going to hire a contractor, it’s essential that you do some research on the people that you plan to hire. Make sure you look for a contractor that specialises in the renovation you wish to perform. While general contractors can manage many different jobs, it’s best to look for a specific contractor to guarantee a quality job.

Get creative with furniture options

If you want to renovate your house on a budget then it’s important to get creative with furniture and decorations. A great example of this is using IKEA furniture hacks to create personalised pieces of furniture that fit your exact needs without needing to hire a carpenter to design bespoke furniture. You’ll need to do a bit of research to get some initial ideas, but furniture hacks can be a fun and unique way to personalise your house. You’ll need some basic materials and tools to get started, but it’s still going to be a lot cheaper than hiring a carpenter to make something custom for you.

You can also try to upcycle furniture. This involves taking old furniture that might be a little run-down and upgrading it with a couple of features. For instance, you can take an old sofa and replace the upholstery with something new. It’s a lot cheaper than buying a whole new sofa and it allows you to personalise it to your liking or preferred colour scheme.